Oaxaca: Conflictivity increases over wind-energy parks in the Isthmus

The tensions related to the intention to build a wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar, in the Tehuantepec Isthmus, have increased in recent days due to different events that have led to confrontations between opponents to the wind-energy park and its proponents.  On different occasions, several journalists have been arrested, and some local residents have also been detained, only to be subsequently released with signs of torture.  Beyond this, on 26 March public security forces were used in a failed attempt to displace a roadblock maintained by opponents to the project in the Playa Vicente community, leaving several injured.

Both the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIITDTyT) and the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus (UCIZONI) have denounced that 4 communards “were taken in the middle of the day from the Juárez neighborhood on 18 March and released the next day with signs of torture.”  The two organizations have denounced that on 21 March there were arrests of several hours of “journalists from La Jornada, Rosa Rojas and Francisco Olvera, [and of] David Henestrosa from the Regional Weekly from Salina Cruz; Ignacio Garrido, Karina Martínez, and Eliseo Ramírez from Ucizoni, as well as Eleazar Infante, an Ikoots communard from San Mateo del Mar as prosecuted by a group [...] which serves Francisco Valle Piamonte, the ex-mayor of San Mateo del Mar.”

While the journalists and UCIZONI members were released the same day, Eleazar Infante was not freed until the midnight of the following day.  The communiques have indicated that Valle Piamonte had been rejected as mayor for having negotiated a deal with the Spanish firm Mareña Renewables for the rental of lands to construct the wind-energy park in the region.

Beyond this, on 26 March, there were confrontations between Zapotec indigenous members of the Popular Assembly of the Juchitec People (APPJ) with the State Police as the latter attempted to displace a roadblock that the APPJ had maintained on the road between the community of Playa Vicente and the state capital.  In accordance with journalistic information, the residents installed barricades to impede the construction of the wind-energy park Fuerza y Energía Bii Hioxho, the project of the Spanish firm Fenosa Natural Gas.  Some 140 state police had been sent to the site to remove the opponents to the wind-energy park using tear gas and live fire, but regardless, the communards defended themselves with rocks and sticks, forcing the state police to retreat.  According to the press, 6 Navy units also participated in the operation.  The confrontation left 32 police injured, three of them gravely, and 11 injured on the side of the APPJ.  Following the confrontation, which resulted in the arrest of 5 Zapotec indigenous persons and the taking of a female police officer, representatives of the state government and the protestors agreed to a cease-fire.  The Ministry for the Defense of Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO), for its part, has requested precautionary measures from the Oaxaca General Secretariat of Governance and Public Security to resolve the conflict by means of dialogue and negotiation.

For more information (in Spanish):

La Jornada: Gente vinculada a edil priísta oaxaqueño retiene a dos periodistas de La Jornada (22/03/2013)

Quadratin: Siete policías heridos luego de intento de desalojo en Juchitán (26/03/2013)

La Jornada: Se enfrentan policías e indígenas en Juchitán (27/03/2013)

El Universal: Manifestantes liberan a policía retenida en Oaxaca (27/03/2013)

Comunicado de la APIIDTyT

Comunicado de Ucizoni

Reports:

Página3: Vientos del Istmo ponen al descubierto mitos y mentiras de proyectos eólicos en la zona Huave

Página3: Dan más de 3mdeuros al proyecto eólico Bii Nee Stipa II; huaves, sin beneficios

Proceso: Pese a la oposición, empresa española construirá parques eólicos en Oaxaca y Puebla

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Red alert for communities in the Isthmus and for civil society (5 February 2013)

Oaxaca: judge concedes motion against wind-energy project in San Dionisio del Mar (21 December 2012)

Oaxaca: confrontations between PRI militants and opponents to wind-energy park in San Dionisio del Mar (7 December 2012)

Oaxaca: Threats from shock-groups in San Dionisio del Mar (26 October 2012)

Oaxaca: entry of Caravan of Solidarity impeded to San Dionisio del Mar (15 October 2012)

 

Oaxaca: Protest against “Failure of Democratic Transition in Oaxaca”

On 19 March in Oaxaca City there was held a mobilization to observe the “Failure of Democratic Transition in Oaxaca,” as organized by several civil and social organizations.  In accordance with journalistic information, the protest, which began in the “El Llano” park and ended in the Zócalo, was attended by 1000 persons.  In a joint communique, the organizational groups indicated that the “government of Gabino Cue does not represent those of us who seek a real change for our state.  Today Oaxaca is ruled by groups that direct José Murat and Diodoro Carrasco who in the shadow of power have become millionaires, imposing repressive policies in the government through their operators.”

The protestors declared that “In these latest years the conflicts that seemingly had no solution have been exacerbated; this climate of tensions directly affects the indigenous peoples who are no priority for the present government [...].  The current government, instead of promoting action for communal development, stimulates looting of our natural resources, with more than 300 mining concessions handed over to the owners of the land as an example.  It has also criminalized and harassed those of us who manifest ourselves to defend our rights.  The brutal police repression suffered by communards in Santa María Chimalapa and Alvaro Obregón are examples of this.”

The organizations, including the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Tehuantepec Isthmus (UCIZONI) and the Zapatista Agrarian Indigenous Movement (MAIZ), warn that there exists a situation of corruption and impunity in the state, referring in this way to the murders of several social activists in recent years.  Furthermore, they demanded the resignation of the state secretaries for Public Security, Finance, Agrofishing Development, and Infrastructure.

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado íntegro de las organizaciones

E-Consulta: UCIZONI marcha por “muerte” de la transición democrática en Oaxaca (19/03/2013)

Quadratin: Con cortejo “fúnebre”, declaran “muerta” transición en Oaxaca (19/03/2013)

Oaxaca: One-year anniversary of the murder of Bernardo Vásquez

15 March marked the one-year anniversary of the murder of Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, spokesperson of the Coordination of United Peoples in Defense of the Ocotlan Valley (CPUVO) and opponent of the “Trinidad” mine owned by the Cuzcatlán firm, which is a subsidiary of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc, located in the municipality of San José del Progreso.  During 2010 and 2011 Bernardo and members of the CPUVO received death-threats for which they responded with 20 juridical demands, none of which was processed.

Commemorating the one-year anniversary of Bernardo Vázquez’s murder, on March 15 a group of 200 people carried out a ceremony to remember this social activist, before the very site of the Cuzcatlán mine in San José del Progreso.   In accordance with the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights (Centro Prodh), the entire group was arrested following their public act.  These events took place when members of a group supportive of the mine (transported in 5 trucks) blockaded access, including federal highways, to inhibit the free movement of the protesters, who were also fired upon so as to intimidate them.  There were no reports of injured persons, but among those arrested are found members of the Oaxacan Collective in Defense of Territory, of the CPUVO, residents of San José del Progreso, and members of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights, including its director, José Rosario Marroquín Farrera.

“A year after his murder, the violations of the collective rights of the people continue to be prosecuted by the mining firm, and there has been no institutional means by which to resolve this conflict.  This date leads us to recall the level of impunity with which the mining firms are operating; it also recalls the complicity of municipal, state, and federal governments with the implementation of these projects,” as is noted in the communique by REMA (Mexican Network of those Affected by Mining) that was published for the one-year anniversary.

For more information (in Spanish):

Bernardo VIVE en la lucha de los pueblos de Oaxaca (EDUCA, 15 de marzo de 2013)

A un año del asesinato de Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez se continúan violando los derechos humanos en San José del Progreso (Colectivo Oaxaqueño en Defensa de los Territorios, 14 de marzo de 2013)

Situación de emergencia en San José del Progreso (CodigoDH, 15 de marzo de 2013)

A un año del asesinato de Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, REMA exige justicia para San José del Progreso, Oaxaca, México (Otros Mundos Chiapas, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Activistas hacen toma simbólica de mina en El Progreso, Oaxaca(Milenio, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Retiene grupo armado a 200 activistas opositores a una mina en Oaxaca (WRadio, 15 de marzo de 2013)

Opositores a minera y defensores de DH bien tras hostigamiento(Centro Prodh, 15 de marzo de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Opponents to mining in San José del Progreso are attacked (25 June 2012)

Oaxaca: access to the Cuzcatlán mine is blocked in San José el Progreso (16 May 2012)

Oaxaca: Actions, denunciations, and mobilizations in the case of San José del Progreso (3 April 2012)

Oaxaca: Murder of the spokesperson of the Coordination of the United Peoples of the Ocotlán Valley (25 March 2012)

Oaxaca: Two opponents of mining in San José del Progreso are fired on (8 February 2012)

Mexico: “Mined land, the defense of the rights of communities and of the environment” (14 December 2011)

Oaxaca: Close of Meeting “Yes to Life, No to Mining” with declaration

During the conference (@SIPAZ)

At the close of the “Yes to Life, No to Mining: Weaving Resistance for the Defense of our Territory” Conference, held from 17 to 20 January in Capulálpam de Méndez (with the participation of 400 people), the civil and social organizations and communal authorities signed a final declaration affirming that they “live under an economic and political model based in looting and the accelerated extraction of our communal goods such as minerals, water, forests, petroleum, air, gas, coal, and knowledges, by maens of the looting and commodification of our ancestral territories.”  For this reason they “struggle against a hegemonic transnational process that destroys our own social, economic, political, and cultural structures,” as they indicate in the communique.

They conclude that “in light of the great threat represented by the mining industry for our Mesoamerican region, we call on the peoples and communities of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Canada, and Mexico to strengthen our networks of resistance and generate broad alliances based on our knowledge, whereby the defense of territory is the basis of our connection.”  In this way, they demanded “the cancellation of all those mining projects where the local communities are in disagreement with the extractive model in the Mesoamerican region,” particularly “the cancellation of the mining project ‘San José’ in the San José del Progreso, Oaxaca, municipality, the cancellation of the mining concessions awarded in the central valley region, as well as punishment for those responsible for the crimes committed against the Coordination of United Peoples of the Ocotlan Valley since 2006,” among other demands.

For more information (in Spanish):

DECLARATORIA: Encuentro de Pueblos de Mesoamérica: Si a la Vida, No a la Minería (En defensa de los territorios, 21 de enero de 2013)

Inicia Encuentro Mesoamericano contra la minería en Capulálpam de Méndez (En defensa de los territorios, 18 de enero de 2013)

“Globalizar las luchas y las esperanzas” llamado del Encuentro Mesoamericano contra la Minería (En defensa de los territorios, 19 de enero de 2013)

La magia de Capulálpam de Méndez, Oaxaca (La Jornada, 18 de enero de 2013)

UPDATE: Mesoamerican People’s Encounter in Oaxaca (The Council of Canadians, 18 de enero de 2013)

Memoria auditiva del Encuentro Mesoamericano Si a la Vida No a la Mineria Capulalpam de Mendez Oaxaca Mexico 2013 (Hijos de la Tierra, 22 de enero de 2013)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Forum “Yes to Life, No to Mining” from 17 to 20 January (15 January 2013)

Mexico: “Mined land, the defense of the rights of communities and of the environment” (14 December 2011)

Oaxaca: Civil Mission of Observation “Water is Life; Let us Defend its Existence” (8 September 2010)

Oaxaca: Denunciations of constant death-threats against Carlos Beas, UCIZONI

In a press-conference on 14 January, the assembly of delegates of the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Tehuantepec Isthmus (UCIZONI) “energetically” condemned “the acts of intimidation and campaign of defamation promoted by the Mareña Renewables Firm, Mr. Jesús Martínez Álvarez, head of SEGEGO [General Secretary of the Oaxacan Government] , as well as the PRI deputies Elías Cortez y Francisco García López, in addition to the newspaper El Imparcial as against our comrade Carlos Beas and the leaders of the Assembly of the Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of the Land and other communities in resistance.”  Furthermore, they denounce “the constant death-threats directed against comrade Juan Carlos Beas Torres” due to his work in defense of the indigenous communities.  Finally, they “call on national and international human-rights organizations to help us in sharing our request for guarantees for the physical security of our comrade Juan Carlos Beas Torres.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado de prensa: UCIZONI condena actos de difamación y de hostigamiento (14 de enero de 2013)

Se vive un regreso al autoritarismo: Ucizoni (Tiempo en línea, 11 de enero de 2013)

Oaxaca: Presentation of the report on human-rights violations against #IAm132 sympathizers

Photo @ EDUCA

The civil-society organizations Luna del Sur, Tequio Jurídico, and the Gobixha Committee for Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights (Código DH),  presented a report regarding the use of public force and investigation of responsibility in the case of the repression that took place during the arrest of youth on 22 July in Oaxaca de Juárez.  The organizations conclude with a series of recommendations for Luis Ugartechea Begué, mayor of Oaxaca, and by challenging the state-government of Oaxaca with regard to its public policy of security and the Defense Organization for Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) regarding the “poor role” it took on that day, given the grave and different human-rights violations, as attested to in the document.  The report also reveals that “the detained were beaten, threatened with death, and tortured in physical and psychological terms, thus amounting to different violations of their human rights.”

It should be remembered that five youth who claim to have been tortured on 22 July after participating in a march organized by #IAm132 have presented a complaint to the DDHPO in which they accuse the mayor of the city and his security cabinet as being responsible for the violation of their basic rights.

For more information (in Spanish):

Informe de Tequio Jurídico, Código DH y Luna del Sur

Denuncian violaciones a sus Derechos Humanos jóvenes de YoSoy132(Código DH, 1 de agosto de 2012)

Presentan informe sobre la criminalización de la protesta de #YoSoy132 Oaxaca(Educa, 11 de septiembre de 2012)ç

Ugartechea viola pactos internacionales de DH y criminaliza la protesta social: OSC (Página 3, 11 de septiembre de 2012)

Juventud y criminalización. Se presenta Informe sobre violaciones a DH vs #YoSoy132 (Código DH, 11 de septiembre de 2012)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Protests against “imposition,” detention, and torture (25 July 2012)

Oaxaca: Sixth anniversary of the beginning of the 2006 social conflict – teachers’ march and act of recognition by state government

Act of recognition on the part of the Oaxacan government @ Educa

On 14 June, on the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the social conflict in Oaxaca, several actions were taken regarding the events of 2006.  Section 22 of the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE) commemorated the failed attempt to displace the protests on 14 June y 2006 with a march and rally in the capital of the state.  This attempt at displacement gave rise to the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).  Azael Santiago Chepi, secretary general of Section 22, indicated in an interview with local media that the teachers’ demand continues until justice is done for the attacks suffered against teachers during the social conflict, and he called it a “farce” that the former governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (2004-2010) would carry out actions in favor of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the state during the present electoral campaign, given the crimes committed by his government.

Beyond this, and also on 14 June, the Oaxacan governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo carried out an act of recognition for the responsibility of the state government regarding the human-rights violations committed during the social conflict.  Cué noted that all state institutions have the obligation to recognize and offer comprehensive attention to the victims of human-rights violations committed in 2006 and 2007.  Within this act of recognition, an accord was signed that creates the Comprehensive Plan of Reparation of Damages that promises compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.  In a joint communiqué, the Gobixha AC Committee for Comprehensive Defense of Human Rights and FUNDAR Center of Analysis and Investigation expressed that “this act of public recognition of the responsibility of the Oaxacan State contributes to the rehabilitation of the victims and their reintegration into society, as well as constituting a process of a reconstruction of the social fabric that will only be possible if it based on truth and justice.”  They demanded furthermore that “as soon as possible the investigations carried out by the Prosecutorial Office of Crimes of Social Importance associated with the State Attorney General’s Office must bear fruit and establish the penal responsibility for the acts that occurred during 2006 and 2007.  This is a necessary step to break with the authoritarian past and put in place a democratic transition from the point of transitional justice, in terms of the reconstruction of the social fabric and the reconciliation of different sectors of society.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Comunicado de CODIGO-DH y FUNDAR (14/06/2012)

Comunicado del Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca (14/06/2012)

Proceso: Cué reconoce responsabilidad del gobierno en el conflicto de 2006 (14/06/2012)

Noticias: Impunes, los crímenes de 2006: Santiago Chepi (15/06/2012)

Noticias: Responsabilidad oficial en hechos del 2006-2007(15/06/2012)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Presumed killer of Brad Will is detained (5 June 2012)

Oaxaca: Urgent Action for new harassment against Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno (30 September 2010)

Oaxaca: Teachers suspend their sit-in and strike following agreement with authorities

Teachers from Section 22 @ Pagina 3

On 6 June, teachers from Section 22 of the National Union of Educational Workers (SNTE) suspended their strike and sit-in in the Zócalo of Oaxaca de Juárez after having reached an agreement with the state and federal governments regarding their demands.  Although the Section 22 explained that the authorities did not respond adequately in all the points they had raised, more than 20,000 teachers voted in assembly to end the sit-in and suspend the strike after 16 days, while 7,000 voted to continue these measures.

Among the points that are to be observed is found the resignation of Bernardo Vásquez Colmenares, director of the State Institute for Public Education in Oaxaca (IEEPO), and two other governmental functionaries; the non-application of the ENLACE evaluation test in state educational centers; the rejection by the state government of the Alliance for Quality Education (ACE); the cancellation of the irregular modules that the group operates; and the application of 3 million pesos for the preoperative phase of an alternative educational plan advanced by Oaxacan teachers.  Furthermore, the state government promised to install a Truth Commission to investigate the assaults suffered by teachers in the 2006 conflict.

For more information (in Spanish):

La Jornada: Concluyó sección 22 paro de labores en Oaxaca; acepta los ofrecimientos (07/06/2012)

Página 3: Se levanta paro magisterial; las bases rechazan continuarlo, … (06/06/2012)

Noticias: Levantan hoy el plantón magisterial (06/06/2012)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: March of teachers and social organizations in commemoration of the repression of 25 November 2006 (28 November 2011)

Oaxaca: Fast for justice, 5 years after the murder of José Jiménez Colmenares (19 August 2011)

Oaxaca: Ex-director of Section 22 is murdered

(@SNTE)

On 24 December, Rafael Rodríguez Vicente, ex-director of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (1995-8), was murdered in the municipality of Santa Lucía del Camino, Oaxaca.  The directorship of Section 22 released a communiqué that called on governor Gabino Cué quickly to clarify the crime and demanded better security conditions for the members of the popular movement.  The authorities are not dismissing any lines of inquiry.  Regardless, there are two hypotheses: one due to political conflicts resulting from his charge of assessor of the indigenous community of Santa María Zoquitlán and another related with his work as a docent.

Rodríguez Enriquez was an activist with the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca and presently had acted as director of the Broad Front of Marginalized Indigenous Communities.  He had been arrested in June 2002 presumably for having belonged to the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) and participating in the kidnapping of the relative of the director of merchants Gonzalo Rodríguez.

For more information (in Spanish):

Asesinan en Oaxaca a ex dirigente de la sección 22 del sindicato de maestros (La Jornada, 24 December)

Asesinan a exlíder de Sección 22 del SNTE en Oaxaca (Proceso, 24 December 2011)

Pronunciamiento de la Sección 22 del SNTE (24 December)

Rinden Magisterio de Oaxaca homenaje de cuerpo presente a exprofesor (Milenio, 25 December 2011)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: March of teachers and social organizations in commemoration of the repression of 25 November 2006 (28 November 2011)

Oaxaca: Fast for justice, 5 years after the murder of José Jiménez Colmenares (19 August 2011)

Oaxaca: March of teachers and social organizations in observance of the commemoration of the repression of 25 November 2006

In commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the repression directed against the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) in 2006, teachers from Section 22 of the SNTE carried out a march in Oaxaca de Juárez on 25 November.  More than 70,000 educational workers marched on that day, according to Section 22, but only 4000 according to police.  Arriving at the zócalo of said city, they carried out a meeting in which they demanded justice and punishment of those responsible for the repression whom they denounced, and who continue to go unpunished, despite the demands of society in this regard.  In accordance with a communiqué of the SNTE, “the present government of the state has not complied with the justice that has been demanded by the people of Oaxaca and all those who suffered the repression ordered by Ulises Ruiz in 2006.”

Members of organizations and the teachers’ movement unveiled a commemorative plaque to remember the resistance of the movement.  It was placed on the side of the Cathedral.  Symbolically, the directors of the social organizations changed the name of the zócalo to the “Plaza of the people in struggle for truth and justice.”

For more information (in Spanish):

Marchan maestros de sección 22 en conmemoración a choques en Oaxaca (La Jornada, 25 November)

Maestros de Oaxaca se “suman” al movimiento de “indignados”(Proceso, 25 November)

Se quedan sin clases un millón 300 mil niños en Oaxaca(Milenio, 25 November 2011)

Dejan sin clases a un millón 300 mil en Oaxaca (El Universal, 25 November 2011)

Reprochan activistas del 2006 a Cué incumplimiento de sus promesas de justicia (E-Oaxaca, 25 November)

Boletín de prensa de la Sección 22 (25 November 2011)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Oaxaca: Fast for justice, 5 years after the murder of José Jiménez Colmenares (19 August 2011)